Gravel Castles
by ToTheBlueberry
Summary: Since it was never officially explained, this is the story of how Nate and Elena broke up in the time between Uncharted 2 and 3. And how Nate dragged Sully along for a vacation in Germany that led to them solving one of Britain's greatest scandals. I'm planning on this being a multi-shot story, and I already have a few other chapters written. Please read and review.
1. Detour

**Hey readers! Since it was never officially explained, this is the story of how Nate and Elena broke up in the time between Uncharted 2 and 3. And how Nate dragged Sully along for a vacation in Germany that led to them accidentally unearthing one of Britain's greatest scandals. I'm planning on this being a multi-shot story, and I already have a few other chapters written. Please read and review ;)**

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CHAPTER 1: DETOUR

"I'm getting deja vu," Nate laughed breathlessly, shooting a glance behind him. Black Kevlar flashed through the trees, the clank of gear- explosives, munitions, whatever- almost disguised in the rustle of leaves. So maybe the locals weren't very friendly to tourists- but Sully never specified that he'd wanted to go to Germany on _vacation._

"This is not the vacation I had in mind, Nate."

"How many times do I have to say I'm sor-?" Nate was cut off when he got a mouthful of the tree branch that snapped back in place when Sully released it. Still bitter. 60 years old and such a _child._

"Less talking, more running." Sully aimed over Nate's shoulder and he immediately ducked as staccato fire sailed right over his head. A yell, a thud, but the footsteps kept coming, crashing through the underbrush.

"Where the hell are these guys _coming_ from?" They seemed to be scurrying from everywhere, coming out of the woodwork like termites.

"Maybe if you'd bothered to scope the area before barging in you'd know!"

Nate grumbled incoherently, choosing to save his breath rather than get into a potential shouting match. Tree branches and leaves slapped him left and right as he made a mad dash to keep up with Sully.

Sully glanced back, confusion painted on his face when he saw Nate lagging behind. "Hurry the hell up, Nate!"

"I thought you'd be happy to have a human shield," Nate shouted back, laying down blind cover fire. Maybe being between Sully and a bunch of trigger-happy mercenaries wasn't the best idea. Especially when they had RPGs.

He had to admit though, the old man was still in pretty good shape, although after over an hour of running they were both starting to slow down. The stitch in his side from running had long since bloomed into a dull throb.

Nate checked the immediate path to make sure he wasn't at risk of tripping before throwing another glance over his shoulder. Shit. Still at least 6 guys, maybe more, but he couldn't tell with all the foliage. He turned sideways long enough to pop the nearest one full of shotgun shells, only to be yanked roughly to the side by a hand on his gun strap. He flailed, and his forward momentum snapped back like a rubber band. He jabbed an elbow back into what felt like a nose before he recognized the wrinkly old man hand and let it tug him down behind a fallen trunk. He put his head down, finger still on the trigger as he watched pairs of boots file by, completely oblivious to their concealed position.

He waited a few seconds, barely peeking over the trunk to see that the coast was clear. The branches were still shaking, and there was a new hole in the shrubbery where they'd run through. He huffed, plopping back against the tree trunk as he allowed himself a few breaths. Already he could feel the adrenaline starting to ebb, and his muscles began screaming in full force from his extended sprint.

"You good?" Nate glanced over to Sully, who was still watching where the mini militia made their exit, almost like he was expecting a grenade to come sailing through the trees.

"Yeah, you?" When he turned back, Nate could see that his nose was bright red where he'd elbowed it, and he had a few nicks on his arms and temples from their sprint through the forest.

"Sorry."

"What for?"

"Was that _sarcasm?"_ Nate scrunched his eyes closed, letting his head fall back against the tree trunk as he tried to dispel the sudden waves of dizziness washing over him.

Sully ignored his question. He shot another glance at Nate and his eyes widened in alarm before he threw one last glance towards the empty underbrush before deeming it safe to move in front of Nate. He opened his eyes at the sound of movement to see Sully looking towards his stomach, and Nate followed his gaze. Blood was smeared all down his right side, starting at his midsection and stopping mid-thigh. He winced, almost pitying whoever's blood that was before promptly realizing that it was, in fact, _his._

"Aw crap," This certainly explained why he felt so shaky.

"How the hell did you not notice this sooner?" Sully's voice was tinted with worry as he lifted up the edge of his shirt to check the damage. It didn't seem to have hit anything important, but there was still a good sized hole a few inches above his hip. Nate sucked in a breath as Sully prodded the skin around it to look for a bullet.

"Damn. One inch to the left, Nate. . . It's clean through," he said. Nate tugged his shirt back down, "There's a first aid kit in the jeep."

"Which is somewhere thataway." Of course. The exact _opposite_ direction that they'd been chased.

"Can you stand?"

Nate nodded, pursing his lips in concentration as he tried to remember how his legs were supposed to work.

"C'mon," Sully stood, offering Nate his hand to pull him up, "we've got a lot of ground to cover."

The dead guy's shirt sleeve that was being buried into the hole in Nate's side was surprisingly not as bothersome as it should have been. Sully's endless nagging to keep pressure, on the other hand-

"Let me know when you need a break," Sully muttered. He adjusted the arm that Nate had slung over his shoulders.

"Oh sure. Lemme just take a quick snooze right here." Nate's feet faltered when he said it, almost like the words were tempting. He could've used a break yesterday, but he wasn't about to let Sully one-up him. He tightened his grip, forcing himself to keep moving.

"I'd punch you if you weren't shot right now."

A breath. Face scrunched in concentration as he focused on putting one foot in front of the other, "No, you- wouldn't."

Nate's retorts were fewer and farther between, which was more of a cause for concern than the blood still leaking through the makeshift wound pack. He almost lost his balance when Sully veered to the left to a cluster of boulders.

"What are you doing?"

"Kid, you're about to keel over. Unless you wanna do this bridal style-?"

"Fine," Nate gently pushed Sully's hand off his shoulder, feeling rather than seeing his way to sit on the rock Sully had been guiding him towards. His vision was still swimming enough to make him nauseous. His eyes shot back up when Sully stood, taking a step back.

"Wh-where are you going?"

"I'll get there faster if I go alone. You gonna be good here by yourself?"

"Ditching your date, Sully? That's not very gentlemanly."

Sully rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up in a helpless gesture. Nate smirked.

"Go," Nate waved him off, "I'll be fine."

 __EARLIER__

"I don't like it. It seems fishy."

"Nate, we steal things for a living."

"Yeah, but normally we have an idea what we're stealing. You're telling me you're not curious?"

"No-" Sully turned in his seat to shoot Nate a look.

"What?" Nate gave him a split-second glance before realizing that that was a terrible idea with this terrain.

"We're not doing this," Sully insisted, waving a finger in Nate's face.

"Doing _what?"_

"The thing where we end up getting shot at."

"I didn't even say anything!"

"But you want to go where that map leads us and get the treasure the client wants. He hired us to find the _map,_ Nate. That's it."

Nate paused, mouth agape as he tried to find the words to defend himself. "First of all, _me._ He hired _me_ to get the map. And you can't say that you haven't _considered_ it-"

Sully rolled his eyes as he turned back in his seat. "I can, actually." He already knew it was hopeless to argue. Nate finally turned into a bare patch in the trees that opened up into a clearing. The Jeep bounced and jostled along the forest floor until Nate finally brought it to a stop nestled in a cluster of bushes.

"We're gonna have to walk the rest of the way." The car door echoed as it slammed shut. They began traipsing through the underbrush.

"Quite the detour."

"You still wanna go to Eurosat?"

"I think this is all the excitement I'll need for the day," he said.

"Let's just hope we can find the Jeep when we're done," Nate said as brushed past Sully.

"Hey- hey, wait," Sully put a hand on Nate's shoulder to stop him.

"What?"

"You're sure Elena's cool with all of this?"

Nate fidgeted, eyes darting to the nonexistent path in front of them. His voice went a pitch higher. "Yeah! Of course," he shrugged Sully off and continued walking.

Sully rolled his eyes, going after him before he could get too far. He hoped Nate never took up gambling. For a thief, the kid had a terrible poker face.

The castle looked empty when it finally appeared through the trees. Granted, it had been abandoned for well over a century, but it still looked to be in great shape. The only sign of disuse was the vines slowly crawling up the tower on the east end, like the roots were trying to drag the stones back into the earth. Huge oak doors gaped at them like a yawning mouth.

"You're gonna scope it out first, right?"

"What, are you my chaperone?" Sully arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'm on it," he called over his shoulder, already halfway up the nearest tower.

 __NOW__

Darkness came faster in the forest. He knew it'd been less than an hour since Sully left, but the temperature already seemed to have dropped by a few degrees- enough that Nate was now shivering uncontrollably. Whatever light that came filtering through the canopy was quenched by the shadows of trees, giving the illusion that the sun was just setting. Nate flinched when he heard a sudden snap of branches, hand reflexively tightening on the fabric tucked into his side. He winced when it squelched- he was losing more blood than he thought, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Sully came crashing through the branches, toting a scratched up first aid kit. Probably old enough to have seen World War II.

"You look like an abandoned puppy," Sully raised an eyebrow, shining his flashlight in Nate's face. He also looked like a ghost. Nate squinted, shooting out a hand to push the flashlight away, but Sully swerved it out of his reach and angled it on the ground so they both had light to see by. Nate took a measured breath, suddenly regretting having moved at all.

"Well I feel like shit," he said breathlessly, "What, you stop for dinner?"

"Something better," Sully dropped a small white bottle into Nate's lap. He only contemplated it for a minute before he took it gratefully, popping three painkillers as Sully set to work laying out the supplies.

"The Jeep's only a few more miles," Sully said. Nate nodded, trying not to show his relief. Sully paused, seeming to be debating on whether he should say what was so obviously on his mind.

"What?"

"I called Elena," he said, not even bothering to look up to see Nate's reaction as he began rinsing a piece of cloth off with saline.

"You did not," Nate groaned.

"What?" Sully capped the bottle. "We could use an extra set of hands. You're the one who said the lady can handle herself," he paused, peeling away Nate's shirt. The blood had already slightly congealed, making it stick to his skin. Sully sucked in a breath through his teeth as he made a sympathetic face.

"What'd you say?" He said nonchalantly in an attempt to disguise his interest.

Sully raised an eyebrow. "You didn't tell her." It was more of a question than an accusation, but Nate couldn't help but get defensive. He'd barely lasted three months in domesticity before he was itching to get back out to his real job. It didn't take much convincing when a job found _him._

"Of course I didn't tell her. She'd kill me herself. And what was I supposed to say? She thinks we're vacationing in Berlin."

"I told her that we were on a job and you got shot. Not much else to say. _I_ hardly even know what we're doing here."

Nate barked out a laugh, then immediately winced. Sully took the gauze out and began wrapping.

He sounded exhausted when he next spoke. "What'm I gonna tell her, Sully?" he said, dropping his head into his hand. He really thought this would be an easy job, get in get out- he'd be home before she even realized he was gone. He was even given the exact location of the map. How could it get screwed up so quickly?

Sully took a levelling breath. "You better figure it out. She's flying in tomorrow morning. Hold it," Sully moved Nate's hand to hold down the gauze as he continued to wrap around his torso.

"But you can't deny it, kid-" Sully said, noticing the slight shake in Nate's hand from blood loss, "we could use her help." Nate wouldn't be aiming a gun anytime soon. Successfully, anyway.

"Yeah, I'll fill her in," Nate said reluctantly, "But this doesn't need to involve her. She doesn't need to get dragged into this." Especially considering the fact that the last time Elena tagged along on one of their little adventures, she almost died.

Sully continued wrapping, but he moved in front of Nate so he could give him a look. "She's capable of making her own choices, you know. You don't give her enough credit." Nate rolled his eyes.

Sully's joints creaked as he stood. "Yeah, keep rolling them. Maybe you'll find a brain back there." He took a step back to view his handiwork.

"There. How does that feel?"

Nate glanced down at the bandages covering half of his torso, which were startlingly white against the blood and grime. He tugged his shirt back down, twisting carefully to test for mobility- his muscles still pulled, and he knew he wouldn't be climbing for another few days, but he would count himself lucky that he'd be able to soon enough.

"You've gotten pretty good at playing nurse," Nate smirked. It was probably best to lay low for a while anyway, even though Nate was itching to get back into action.

"Yeah, well, you're still not in tip-top shape."

"I can look the part for a few hours. . .When?" He grabbed Sully's arm for support as he stood shakily, wrapping his other arm around his side.

"Tomorrow afternoon. She's meeting us at the hotel."

"Great."

"And you-" Sully jabbed a finger in his face, "are going to get some sleep."

"Yes sir."

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 **A/N: Uh-oh. Wonder what Elena's gonna think. This is my first Uncharted fic, so I hope the characters are all, well, in character. I tried my best, but the interactions get better later in this fic. Please r &r.**


	2. John Lackland

**Sorry about the long wait you guys. For some reason I thought I'd posted this a while ago. Shit happens.**

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CHAPTER 2: JOHN LACKLAND

Sully was standing on the hotel balcony, trying his best to ignore the growing domestic dispute as he continued to take puffs of his cigar. It was probably a bit early to be smoking- sunrise had just barely left, taking with it the orange glow of the city below. It'd be peaceful, except it wasn't. He didn't have to turn to know the look on Elena's face. Between the jet-lag and not getting any sleep from worry, she was not happy. But now that she saw Nate alive and breathing, all the pent-up worry was being released like water from a dam.

Nate could see the composed anger in her crossed arms as he finished the story. He tried his best to stay composed himself, to not let on how much that bullet had felt like a cannonball, but the truth was those painkillers had worn off before they could fully set in. He felt even more tired than he was before he slept.

Luckily Nate had pity points, so she couldn't get too mad at him. And he really did look pathetic.

As he finished the story, it took all of his self-control not to fidget under her stare. "I know. I should have told you, but I-"

"I'm not mad about you going."

His thoughts slammed to a halt. "You- you're not?"

"No. I'm mad that you didn't tell me. Because you thought I'd say no."

Maybe not. "No, I-"

"Are you forgetting the last time you ended up with a gutshot, Nathan? You almost died. But at least I knew. I wasn't getting a call from Sully at 2 in the morning telling me that you'd done something colossally stupid-"

"Elena, this is exactly why I didn't tell you-"

"Oh, cause you wanted to leave me in suspense when you didn't come back?"

Nate gaped, searching for words. "In my defense, I didn't think we'd have any competition."

"Bullshit, Nate. If this guy's willing to pay you to come out here I'm sure there are others looking for the same thing," she dragged the chair out from under the table so she could sit across from him. She took a breath as she tried to compose herself.

"I thought you were done with this," she whispered. She'd hoped he had finally settled down. She let herself believe that the last cursed treasure was actually the last.

He lowered his voice to match hers. "It was just a simple job."

"And when will you be off to the next one?"

Sully sighed, hanging his head in defeat as he tapped the ash off his cigar and placed it on the balcony railing. He'd been hoping to stay out of this, but for Christ's sake, Elena would rip Nate apart faster than a bullet if he didn't intervene. Who knew he'd go from treasure hunter to relationship counselor in .3 seconds?

"Well- now that you're here, what's the plan?"

Elena let her gaze linger on Nate for a second or two longer- he didn't meet her eyes though, instead glad for the distraction that Sully gave.

"Finish the job. Find the map."

"What'd you say your client's name was?"

"Wheeler. Uh," Nate wracked his brain for a first name, He'd never actually met his employer in person, "Michael Wheeler."

"Well he doesn't know yet that we're going after it ourselves, right?" Elena asked.

"We? No, there's no we- Sully-" Nate gestured towards Elena with a you-tell-her expression.

"Elena, you're not coming with us-"

"Thank you-"

"-because we're not going."

"Yes. Wait, what?"

"Either all of us go or none of us do. And there's no way in hell that I'm letting you go out like that."

"What- this?" Nate gestured towards the wrappings that were concealed by his shirt. "Sully, I've been shot before-"

"You don't develop an immunity to gunshots!" Sully said.

"Wait- that's not what I'm saying," Nate shifted, gritting his teeth, "C'mon, Elena-"

She laughed, but it was humorless. "You really think I'm gonna take your side on this one?"

"You saw those guys, Nathan. Whoever hired them, they're rich enough to afford an army. I think we're a little outnumbered."

Nate looked between Sully and Elena. "I can't believe this. You guys are already giving up. This Wheeler guy is paying good money, and that was just for the map. Who knows how much the actual treasure is worth?"

"Not worth this!" Elena exclaimed, gesturing towards Nate, "You don't know when to give up."

"Okay, I'll admit we're not off to a good start-" Nate raised his voice to be heard as Elena threw her hands up in apparent defeat, "-but let's at least go back to check it out. I'll take it easy on this one."

Elena crossed her arms, fully prepared to stand her ground. Even if she said no, Nate would go anyway, probably try to MacGyver his way out of the hotel room. The least she could do was make sure he had backup. Maybe keep him from spider-monkeying around. Although Sully was reluctant too, she glanced towards him and he reluctantly nodded.

"Fine. But I'm going with you."

The main door was still blown wide open from yesterday's ambush- one was cockeyed at a near impossible angle, teetering on collapse. Luckily the small army from yesterday seemed to have left the area. Nate still had no idea what they'd been doing there, if they were looking for the same thing, and if so who their employer was. Either way, it was best to avoid making noise, so they quietly stepped through the door. Sully led them to one of the rooms that he and Nate had been about to enter yesterday before they were interrupted. After a thorough scan to make sure they were alone, Sully and Elena immediately set to work opening drawers and checking the bookcases for any clue as to what treasure the map would lead them to.

"Hey, I'm gonna check out upstairs."

"Be careful," Elena coughed out, waving a hand in front of her face as a plume of dust rose after she closed a book.

"Aren't I always?"

She arched an eyebrow at him and he sheepishly ducked out of the room, taking the spiral stairs two at a time.

There wasn't much upstairs, just a few bedrooms and what looked like an old workspace. There were a few books scattered around with once-elegant titles, now barely legible from age and decay. He flipped through a few of them, pulling out every stray leaf of paper in the hopes that it was a map. Nothing. He walked to the balcony, intending to go to the west wing of the floor, when something caught his eye.

The balcony overlooked the first floor, with a small circular window directly across that lent some view of the skyline outside. From this vantage point, Nate could make out the irregular patterns in the tiles on the first floor, lines and curves and edges starting and ending with seemingly no order-

"Nate, we're not finding anything down here," Elena called up at him. She did a double take when she noticed him intently staring at the floor. The lines were too random to be any map that he'd recognize. Maybe if he could rearrange it. . .

"The floor. The floor is the map," he raced back down the stairs, ignoring the razor wire shooting down his side.

He'd literally been standing on it.

"Can you stand over there?" Nate pointed to the doorway to the dining area, which had a markedly uniform tile. Sully, hearing the commotion, walked out of the room he'd been searching to join her.

Every few feet or so there was a deep gash in the floor, too deep to be grouting. Nate circled around it, following the line to its end.

"I think they rotate," he grabbed an edge to turn it, almost surprised when it gave way. He turned it until the lines were matched up with the ones around it, then did the same for the others. There were 12 in all, but the map was too big for him to be able to see it on the ground floor. He gestured for the others to follow him upstairs.

"That's the- uh," Sully snapped, trying to place a name to the squiggles and lines, "the Fens. England."

"Well that really narrows it down. Just a few hundred thousand square acres to cover," Elena said.

"Wait, but what happened in the Fens that-"

"There was a rumor that King John of England lost the Crown Jewels on the causeway. That area right there," Nate pointed down to a corner of the map, a bay with rivers leading into it. There was a cluster of five dots along where the shoreline would be. A symbol of some sort- he wouldn't chalk it up to coincidence.

"During a campaign against some rebel barons, he sent some of his carts through the shortcut, but the area was only safe during low tide. Almost everyone died, and the Crown Jewels had to be replaced."

Sully raised his eyebrows, seeming impressed as he slowly nodded.

"You think Wheeler is after the Crown Jewels?" Elena asked as she took a picture of the map below.

Nate shrugged. "Worth a shot."

"I guess we're going to England."

The smog hit him before he even had a chance to breathe. They'd landed in Nottingham, a few cities away from a town in the Wash. From there, Sully rented a car to drive the last few hours.

"Hm. Well," Nate braced himself against the railing as he peered out at the water.

"Yeah, great plan Nate. Even if they had been here, what're we gonna do? Go snorkeling?"

"They'd be under a mile of sand by now," Nate nodded.

"Hell, there's no telling they'd still even _be_ in the bay," Sully said.

"This can't be it," Nate said, gesturing at nothing. The waves below crashed and fell in response. He didn't really know what he was expecting. Even his salvage team couldn't begin to tackle a dig like this. Maybe he should just give the map to Wheeler-

"Wait. Elena, do you still have a picture of that map?"

"Uh, yeah," she fished out her phone and handed it to Nate. He found the picture and zoomed in on the symbol, holding the phone out in front of him as he compared it to the landscape. He had to be missing something. . .

"What's that?" Sully pointed at something farther inland, what looked like little more than a cluster of white rocks from the distance. Ruins. There were 5 distinct towers clustered in a semicircle, just like the symbol.

"That-" Nate said, handing Elena back her phone, "is out next stop."

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 **Don't forget to drop a review to let me know what I'm doing right. If you're not into that kind of commitment, just follow/favorite this story to get chapter updates. See you in the next one.**


	3. City of Stone

**Let's get right into it.**

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CHAPTER 3: CITY OF STONE

A small town a few miles downhill gleamed with stone and glass. To the right, a mirror of water reflected the tempestuous storm brewing overhead.

"I'm surprised this place isn't a tourist attraction," Elena said, turning in her seat to catch a glimpse of the breathtaking view behind her.

"Privately owned," Sully said, pointing to a sign as he drove by it, "But it looks like we're in the right place," he said. The dirt road continued to roll out of sight, disappearing into the hills. It wound half a mile or so away from the crumbling ruins of old sentinel towers. Crags of once-militant buildings were now half overtaken by grass. The ruins spilled into a glistening lake, with one high-standing tower the only thing resembling a building. Sully parked behind a cluster of trees, and together they headed for the tower in the center.

There was a crank for the iron gate at the entrance, and Sully and Nate opened it.

The room was circular, about 5 stories tall, with windows set high in the walls- parts of the upper floors still clung to the walls, barely a few feet wide in most places. Brick had crumbled out of one of the walls to make room for a nest, and a few swallows flew out of the nearest window as the group made their entrance. A third of the ceiling was gone, allowing natural light to filter in and pool on the floor. But that wasn't what caught Nate's attention.

"What the-"

A slab of deformed natural rock, a few feet high and about 5 feet in diameter, stood in the middle of the floor. Nestled in the rock, hilt-up, was a sword.

"-hell?" Nate finished.

Sully holstered his Micro as he scrambled up the rocks. The sword itself was tarnished, almost black, but the hilt was worn and shone with use. A small inscription was written along the flat of the sword in loopy lettering.

"Hey, Nate?" Sully beckoned him over to show him the inscription. The letters were difficult to recognize, but after reading it a few times it clicked.

"It's Old English. _He who be worthy,"_ he stepped back as Sully grabbed the sword by the hilt and began tugging.

"Careful."

"Did we just find the sword in the stone?" Elena was looking at the sword with mixed dubosity and wonder.

"No," Nate glanced up at the half-caved ceiling, hands on his hips as he scanned the room, "That would've been 5th century. This architecture is newer." He took out his journal and started scratching down a rough sketch of the room. He didn't see Elena roll her eyes behind his back.

"Damn. Thing. Won't- _budge,"_ Sully's face was turning beet red from strain. He grunted before he finally released the hilt and climbed back down the rock, shaking his head.

Nate stowed away the journal for later. "Step aside, old man."

"Really?" Sully scoffed.

"Yes, _really_. Watch and learn."

Nate stepped up to bat, fully prepared for the sword to come sliding out of its rock sheath. It didn't budge. Didn't move even a millimeter.

"Yeah, what'd I tell you?"

Nate threw a glare over his shoulder as he threw all his weight on the sword. It was starting to get embarrassing. But his footing slipped, and his grip tightened on the sword as he tried to compensate and regain his balance.

"Woah-oh crap!"

The sword plunged further into the stone, sinking until it was up to it's hilt. _Shit-_

He straightened up, glancing down as the floor began to shake. He scrambled down the rock as the floor stones around it began oscillating like waves before they sank into the floor. They leveled out to form steps that led down into a dark hallway.

He stood, mouth agape, before he whirled around with a smirk.

"That was on purpose. I was just trying to build the suspense."

"Sure," Elena brushed past him, already turning on her flashlight. Sully followed close behind.

The stairs went on for a few feet down. Eventually the daylight behind them became engulfed by the darkness underground.

"This must've been added on after the original castle was built," Sully commented. Nate nodded, brushing a hand along the wall before he could think better of it. He cringed at the cold, wet slime that came off on his fingers and promptly brushed his hand off on Sully's shoulder.

The hallway seemed to narrow as they continued. It went down for a few meters before opening into a wider room. Four separate hallways were split off from it, disappearing in the distance. Two of them were blocked off by piles of rock.

"What do you wanna bet these old tunnels lead to the other towers?"

"Yeah, not like they'd be much use now."

The wall opposite them had two sconces with century-old torches.

"Hey Sully, you got a light?"

"Yeah," he tossed the lighter to Nate, and he began lighting the torches. The room immediately illuminated with warm oranges and yellows cast in a pool on the floor and walls. Now that there was better lighting, they could see some sort of royal family crest mounted on the wall between the two sconces- three gold-plated lions on a backdrop of red.

"Well we're definitely in the right place," Sully said, pointing at it. "That's King John's crest."

"Minus that one," Sully said, pointing to the lion in the middle. It was facing the wrong direction.

Elena stepped forward, running a finger along the gold plating. The lion clicked in response, collapsing into the wall. The crest split down the center as what they now knew was a door slid back into the walls.

"Nice," Nate said, trying not to sound impressed as he nudged past her.

After a few flights of stairs leading down, the tunnel began to feel more like a cave, with the rock chipped and carved into a crude circle. The temperature had dropped a few degrees, and the sound of rushing water echoed in the small space, getting louder as they descended. He could practically smell the moisture in the air. After a few minutes the stairs abruptly stopped, leaving a sheer 60 foot drop into the water below. A single splinter of rotted wood jutted out a few feet into the emptiness. Nate could faintly make out the remnants of an old bridge rotted beyond recognition that had fallen into the water below.

Nate threw an arm out to the side to stop Elena. The room was cut clean through by a 50 foot wide underground stream running through the center. On the far side, another larger crest was mounted on the wall. On the other side of the room guarding what looked like a pedestal, but the other side was too high for him to be able to get to if he swam. He'd have to climb across.

"Just wait here," Nate said, glancing at the walls. Patches of grout were missing, and some of the stones were jutting out to make handholds and footholds.

"Nate," Elena stepped forward, but he waved her off.

"I got this." He was able to sidle to the side and jump to the nearest handhold. Sully's and Elena's eyes bored into his back.

"Don't worry guys, this is a cakewalk. Er- cakeclimb." The humidity had made the rocks slippery, forcing him to keep moving so he wouldn't lose his grip.

"Just be careful," Sully said.

About halfway across, the rocks began crumbling. He didn't have time to jump to the next one when the one he'd been on broke apart in his hands, splashing into the water below.

"Oh my god- Nate!"

He fell for an agonizing second, fingers scrabbling against the wall before he finally found purchase. His shoulder yanked in its socket as one arm caught all of his weight, leaving him dangling precariously by the tips of his fingers.

"Are you okay?" Elena shouted.

"I'm good," he grunted, watching the path of a spray of dust into the sheer drop of water below. There was no way he'd be getting back the same way he'd came.

"Onward and upward," he muttered to himself. He began climbing more cautiously now. His shoulder grinded almost in sync with the throbbing in his side- but there were only a few feet left. He could make it. He fell back into the rhythm of climbing, making sure to test his weight on the handholds before using them.

When he finally hauled himself up the ledge, he took a moment to let himself breathe. He staggered over to the pedestal in front of the family crest. There was nothing on it. It was a dead end.

Elena's flashlight passed over the room, casting eerie shadows on the wall. Something glinted in the light that Nate hadn't seen before. Some kind of mechanism. . .

Elena and Sully were just on the other side, but he had to shout to be heard over the rushing water.

"I think it's another puzzle," he shouted.

"Hey, Elena, can you toss me your flashlight?"

"Uh-" Elena mentally calculated the distance. She shifted as close to the edge as she could get before she chucked it overhead. It spun through the air, light flashing on the walls and ceiling like a strobe before Nate caught it. Now that he had better lighting, he could see the tiles arranged in a row underneath the family crest, each with a different symbol engraved on it. Above it, a row of 5 empty slots. And above that, directly beneath the crest, was the statue of a lion. It's golden maw was frozen in a perpetual snarl.

"There's another one on this side, Nathan."

"This guy's got a thing with lions," he said. He bent until he was eye level with the snarling teeth, then shone his flashlight in the mouth like he was looking for cavities. There was some sort of lever in the back of the throat- but when he craned his head to get a better look he saw there were also several thin slots along the roof of the mouth, perfect for a blade to fit through.

Nate felt along the floor until he found an old piece of the destroyed bridge.

"Open wide," he said tentatively, stuffing the wood in the mechanism for confirmation. Sure enough, as soon as the stick touched the lever, blades shot out from behind the teeth. The entire jaw snapped shut, and the lion let loose a metallic growl as the movement made it creak and grind with disuse. The 4-inch-long canines bore down in a death grip. When the jaw finally opened, the wood had been broken clean through in several places.

"Ooh boy," he sighed, taking a step back. It must be the symbols. Arrange them right, and he got to keep his arm. Do it wrong and- How much was an arm even worth on the black market? 500 bucks? He could spare it.

"What's it look like over there?" Sully shouted over the water. Nate half turned, still studying the mechanism.

"There's some sort of lever in here. I'm guessing it'll get us to the next clue."

"Guessing?"

"You wanna help, Sully? Figure out what these symbols mean," he said, gesturing to the tiles.

"Did'ja look at the book?"

"I- was getting to that," Nate said with exasperation. He'd nearly forgotten about it, but maybe it would have something about this. He'd gotten shot to find it in that castle, anyway. Might as well find out why.

"What book?"

"It's what brought us to that castle in the first place. We found it in France." That's where Michael had initially sent them, at least.

"You guys went to France too?" Elena said incredulously.

Nate chose not to comment on that.

It was simple leather, with binding old enough to have been handmade. A thin leather ribbon secured it, with the initials M.W. carved into the front cover.

He flipped through the first few pages before he found what he was looking for. On one page, the five family seals were arranged in what he only assumed was the right order. On the next, the mascot of each seal drawn in a similar row. Just like what he saw before him.

He began sliding the tiles in the correct order with their corresponding mascots. It only took a few minutes, but some of the gears were so old and rusted from the dewy air that it was almost impossible to move them. Finally he was finished and he took a step back to look. He compared it to the journal for a moment before deciding that it was right.

"That's it?"

"Guess so," he shouted over the water. Now just to pull the lever. He took a breath, one hand braced on the wall, the other hovering between the teeth. He hesitated just long enough for Elena and Sully to notice.

"This seems more dangerous than putting my hand in an _actual_ lion's mouth."

"You need some help?" Elena asked.

"What? No, I-", he lowered his voice, muttering to himself. "C'mon, Nate, you got this. Just-" he released his breath in a short huff, closing his eyes and turning his head away as he shot his hand forward. He groped around for the lever, and when he finally found it he tugged it before he could think twice. There was a shudder, the grinding sound of stone on stone behind him- Nate thought he'd be pulling out the stump of his arm- but the mouth stayed open. He tentatively took his hand back, turning in the same motion to see what new clue had appeared.

Something had risen from the center of the pedestal. It was a box. Rusted to the point where he couldn't tell what kind of metal it was made with. It was carved with intricate designs and patterns, but they seemed halting and unorganized. There was some sort of etching on the other side- if it was a language it was none he'd ever seen before. But there was no way to open it _._ He studied it for a few more seconds, but the longer he looked the more confused he became.

"Found something," he said, frowning, "No idea what the hell it is, but-" Nate held it up in the air for them to see- the carvings glinted dully in the beam of the flashlight.

"Nothing is something, right?" Sully shrugged.

Elena glanced behind her towards the empty hallway. "We should probably head back. I don't wanna run into any of your friends," she said.

"Yeah," he slipped the box in his back pocket for safekeeping.

"I'm right behind ya."


End file.
